Sonny Smith seems like kind of a weird guy.
And I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. The word “weird,” at its essence, simply means “different.” As opposed to “normal,” which, at its essence, means “the same.” Or, put another way, “boring.” It’s not that Sonny and the Sunsets write, play, and release rock music that’s so far out there you need a map to find its origins and antecedents. It’s just that, you know, it sounds pretty different.
Even when it sounds like something you’ve heard before, something easily placed, it’s not quite the same as that other thing, not even in spirit. The opening track off the new Sonny and the Sunsets record, Talent Night at the Ashram, offers a prime example of what I mean. Pay minimal attention to “The Application” and you might think you were listening to a David Bowie record, as the song apes “Kooks” from tip to tail. The melody, the compositional structure, the changes: everything. Except, you know, it’s not “Kooks,” and a deeper listen reveals that, furthermore, it really doesn’t sound that much like “Kooks” at all.
Think too hard about Sonny Smith’s songs and the ground beneath your feet starts to tremble, crack, and threaten to open. Look no further for this than track seven, “Happy Carrot Health Food Store,” which begins as a story about the people working at a natural health food store. Time and again he repeats the chorus “It’s a natural healthy food store,” and we get the gist. Seems pretty simple. Charming, even.
But then the music subtly changes, opens up a little, feels like your mind on a sunny day once the sun starts to bake it. This goes on a for a little bit, and then Sonny starts having a conversation with a dog. A back-and-forth, give-and-take with what is unmistakably a whimpering and barking canine. Except, and this is crucial, is he really talking to the dog? Or is the dog a signifier? And it kind of sounds like he’s giving stage directions, or anyway talking about the stage directions he would give, or has given, or is in the process of thinking about giving, and by the time you think you’ve got it, the Earth opens and you go tumbling down.
This is all good fun, trying to figure out what’s going on behind the curtain, or if there is anything behind the curtain, but that can only sustain a listener’s interest for so long. Eventually, you want to get up and throw that curtain aside, if only to confirm that, yes indeed, there’s nothing there to see.
Or is there?
Amidst all the weirdness, Sonny zones in on a few tracks that sound great, move along at a nice clip, and ditch the overt psychedelia for something more straight-forward. It’s in these tunes that you see the pure songwriting talent of this man who initially made his name winning songwriting contests, right there in “Alice Leaves for the Mountains,” “Baby Jokin,” and “Icelene’s Loss.” In the past, it’s been there in “I Wanna Do It” and “She Plays Yo-Yo With My Mind,” among so many others. He’s on an elevated plane compared to most of what’s seen as his competition, and he knows it. He also doesn’t seem to care all that much, given the fun he routinely has doing whatever the fuck.
Therein lies the main issue with Talent Night at the Ashram. All too often, there’s just no telling what the hell is going on. Did “Happy Carrot Health Food Store” really need to be over seven minutes long? And did he need to talk to a dog during it? Probably not on both counts, but he did, and that’s the song, and while what results doesn’t make a god damn lick of sense, it’s also pretty solid, once you get the hang of it. Same goes on the album’s second song, “Cheap Extensions”, where it sounds like a monkey or gibbon mixed the overdubbed solos and fills, but then the obvious layering effect fits the track, in a demented, anarchistic way, and takes it further than a smoother mix would. Smith liked it so much he made it the first single!
And remember that supposed “Kooks” rip “The Application”? It’s about turning in an application (to whom is never really broached) to be a human being. It, too, sounds great, and its passing resemblance to the Bowie classic hints at the possibility that Sonny Smith is a type of American Bowie for the underground rock connoisseur, an artist dabbling in heavy concept and out-there themes to trick you into thinking too hard about what, at its most basic level, is the same bullshit everybody else is doing, only better, and more original.
But even Bowie had his limits. Sonny and the Sunsets test theirs on Talent Night at the Ashram, and the results don’t always pass the smell test. There is much grace in being weird, though. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Rating: 3.5/5